Chase Freedom – 5x UR At Drugstores This Quarter
Yesterday as I was activating the rotating 5% quarterly Cash Back Bonus for my Discover Card and Chase Freedom Card, I saw something extremely interesting.
For Chase Freedom this Quarter, you can earn 5% Cash Back (or 5x UR) at DRUGSTORES!
Link To Activate 5% Cash Back Bonus
If you are wondering why this make me the tiniest bit excited, it is because Drugstores include the following:
Vanilla Reload 5x
Over the last few months, I had been using Vanilla Reload Cards (VRC) that I purchased at Walgreens and CVS, to hit the $14,000 in Minimum Spend Requirement for my App-O-Rama.
Unfortunately, at $8 per $1,000 worth of VRC, in my opinion it only makes sense to purchase the VRC to complete the Minimum Spend.
However now with this 5x Ultimate Rewards Bonus for Quarter 1, if you bought 3 $500 Vanilla Reload Cards at CVS or Walgreens, you would earn 7,500 Ultimate Rewards for around $12!
Unfortunately there is a quarterly cap of $1,500 in spend on the 5x bonus for Drugstores, so this won’t be another Office Depot extravaganza but it is still an easy way to get 7,500 Ultimate Rewards.
I haven’t done Vanilla Reload Cards at Walgreens or CVS in a couple of months, so I am not 100% sure if you can still buy them with Credit Cards but my guess is that YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary).
If you can’t find any Vanilla Reload Cards then you can also buy the regular Vanilla Prepaid Cards and “liberate” them via Amazon Payments.
If You Don’t Have A Chase Freedom
While you can always sign up for a Chase Freedom Card here, I’d personally recommend not wasting a valuable Chase “Sign Up” opportunity.
Instead if you have any other Chase Cards that have an Annual Fee coming due like a Chase Sapphire Preferred, instead of canceling that Card, simply request to “downgrade” to the Chase Freedom which doesn’t have an Annual Fee.
This way you can keep your Credit Line open, get a Chase Freedom Card, avoid paying an Annual Fee, not have to waste an Application on the Chase Freedom, and still take advantage of this Q1 promotion.
You have until March 14th to get your Freedom Card and register it for the Quarter 1 promotion!
Additionally if you have a Chase Checking account, then you are eligible for Chase Exclusives, which gives you an additional 10% bonus on Chase Freedom purchases. Not sure though if that 10% bonus is on your actual purchase or is on the 5x UR bonus.
Recap
Although there is a $1,500 cap on the 5x UR at Drugstores, this is a still a phenomenal way to “buy” 7,500 UR Points for around $12.
This is a pretty amazing deal when you consider that if you had to buy 8,000 Miles from a Ultimate Rewards Transfer Partner like United Airlines, it would cost you $301.
-Parag
Don’t ever miss another FFU Update or Travel Deal!
Just an fyi, Citi Dividend for this quarter is 5% at Drugstore too, with max annual cap of $300 in dividend rewards which means you can max out at 6K spend in the next 3 months and get a check for $300
Citi Premiere also has it bu maxes out $600 Spend(not reward)
@David – Thanks. Too bad you can't transfer those points to AA : (
Wouldn't you recommend keeping the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, even with the annual fee, if you have the credit? Seems like a pretty great card to keep for years.
@Tiffany – Most of those benefits you can get from other Chase Cards or AMEX Cards, so I don't think it is worth the $79 annual fee but to each their own.
Parag, is it possible to downgrade from the Chase Sapphire Preferred straight to the Freedom? Or can you only downgrade from the Sapphire Preferred to the regular Chase Sapphire? (in order to get the benefit of growing the age of the account). Thanks.
@Tom – Yes you should be able to. Just call and ask.